Designed Methods for the Sorting of Tertiary Lymphoid Structure-Immune Cell Populations.

The tumor microenvironment is a complex network of interacting cells composed of immune and nonimmune cells. It has been reported that the composition of the immune contexture has a significant impact on tumor growth and patient survival in different solid tumors. For instance, we and other groups have previously demonstrated that a strong infiltration of T-helper type 1 (Th1) or memory CD8+ T cells is associated with long-term survival of cancer patients. Nevertheless, the prognostic value of the other immune populations, namely regulatory T cells (Treg), B cells, and gamma delta (γδ) T cells, remains a matter of debate. Herein, we describe novel flow cytometry-based strategies to sort out these different immune populations in order to evaluate their role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).